


Knock on Wood

by highlightcity_159



Series: The House Husband Interludes (featuring a not-so-house wife) [1]
Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: #TTFVSmoothie, Andy is the not-so-house wife, Book of Nile, F/F, F/M, Joe and nile bonding, M/M, and attentive, gratuitous fluff, house husbands, over their extremely attractive
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:49:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26412934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/highlightcity_159/pseuds/highlightcity_159
Summary: Joe and Nile enjoy their morning coffee coffee with a view.
Relationships: Andy | Andromache of Scythia/Quynh | Noriko, Booker | Sebastien le Livre/Nile Freeman, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Series: The House Husband Interludes (featuring a not-so-house wife) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1919809
Comments: 67
Kudos: 494





	Knock on Wood

**Author's Note:**

> This piece is inspired by Matthias Schoenaerts and his thirst trap Instagram post that inspired this series of gifs: https://sanjurokuwabatake.tumblr.com/post/173619226203/what-a-feeling-charging-all-senses-with-the-most (slightly NSFW).
> 
> [Find me on tumblr if you have prompt ideas for this series :)](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/highlightcity159)

Nile stumbles sleepily down the stairs of their rental chalet towards the main living space, rubbing at her eyes. She spies Joe standing in front of the large picture window that overlooks their side yard and the valley below them with a steaming cup of coffee. They are taking a break and spending the fall and winter in the Swiss Alps. Snow season hasn’t yet started and most of the rental chalets and ski resorts are empty. The last few months have been stressful as they separated into two teams, one in London and one in Iraq, to finally end BP’s reign as the last major fossil fuel company. A vestige of an old world order that in the last few decades has tried to hold onto its power by any means necessary even as the world has managed to exponentially decrease its reliance on fossil fuels. Ultimately, the mission had been a success but Nile, Joe, and Andy were still recovering from a long, arduous summer in Basra, where temperatures had averaged 120°F during the day. 

She ignores Joe for the moment and makes herself a cup of coffee, plying it full of milk and sugar. She enjoys her first few sips of coffee leaning over the counter. It’s late morning and she had woken up alone. She remembers stirring slightly as Booker had climbed out of bed a few hours ago but she hadn’t bother to get up with him. 

“Joe, what are you looking at?” She ambles over to where he’s standing thinking he’s admiring the beautiful canvas of fall leaves adorning the forested valley below them. Instead he gestures slightly to the right where Booker and Nicky are standing outside surrounded by piles of wood. 

“Nicky and Booker have decided to hold a competition to see who can chop the most wood in an hour.” Nile turns toward where he points and pauses with her coffee mug halfway to her mouth. 

“Oh,” she exhales taking in the view. 

“Right?” Neither of them takes their eyes off the sight. It must be a relatively warm day because Nicky has rolled the sleeves of his t-shirt up to reveal defined arms. His hair is sticking to his brow and he’s rolled his jeans up to show off deceptively strong calves. 

Booker was at one point wearing a flannel shirt but is now naked from the waist up his shirt laying carelessly in the grass beside him. His jeans are slung low across his hips and threadbare across the thighs. Nile finds her wondering if he’s wearing anything under them. She can’t tell from here but given how low they sit she doesn’t think so. 

Booker is all brute force. Bringing the axe down from over his shoulder, legs planted firmly into the ground. She can see his thighs clenching in his tight jeans as he uses his trapezius muscles and engages his core to split log almost fully in half. He drops the axe so he can rip the remaining log in half bear handed before grabbing another from his ever shrinking pile. 

Nicky is all finesse. He places his log at an angle and he chops at it like a fulcrum. Using his momentum to split it in half in two chops. He has a system rigged up, taking advantage of his love for mechanics and engineering to compensate for what he lacks in sheer strength. He’s lithe and his motion is full of graceful power, like a ballet dancer chassé-ing into a grand jeté. His leaner form is fluid as he competes, maintaining a pile as large as Bookers. 

“Cheers,” she mutters raising her coffee mug to Joe.

“Fi sihtik,” he responds touching her mug with his, neither of their eyes leaving the scene before them.

They watch a while as Nicky and Booker go back and forth. The two pause to grab some water smiling and joking with each other. Nicky raises the hem of his t-shirt to wipe at the sweat on his brow and in doing so reveals the firm musculature of his abdomen. Joe makes a wounded noise beside her at the flash of skin. Booker grabs his flannel to wipe at the sweat on his chest and upper arms, before swinging his arms back and forth in an attempt to loosen them a little. Nile lets a very unattractive “guh” at the way his skin glows in the late morning sun, biceps and triceps rippling. 

“It has not yet gotten that cold. Why have they decided to chop so much wood?” Quynh steps up beside Nile, a frown on her face and coffee mug in hand. She must have come downstairs while Joe and Nile were busy ogling their lovers.

“Where’s Andy?” Nile asks ignoring Quynh’s question. Who cares if they don’t need all that wood she’s not one to stare a gift horse in the mouth. 

“She went on a run this morning, I believe, but she should be back by now.” As if on queue Andy appears off to the side calling out to Nicky and Booker. She’s dressed in a tank top and shorts that show off her long athletic limbs. They can’t hear the conversation but from the hand gestures the guys are probably explaining their competition to her. They chat a little while longer before Andy disappears around the corner, reappearing a few minutes later with an axe of her own. The three set up their own stations and get to work chopping the rest of the wood. Andy moving faster than either Nicky and Booker, with swift efficient movements that belie her powerful core.

Quynh hums softly, coffee mug against her lips. 

“On the other hand, it does get cold towards the end of the year and it doesn’t hurt be prepared.”

**Author's Note:**

>  **Notes**
> 
> Basra, Iraq really does get that hot during the summer. 120°F = 48.9°C. 
> 
> "Fi sihtik" - "Cheers" in Arabic


End file.
